TBILSI, Georgia — Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili restored billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s citizenship, paving the way for his nomination this week as prime minister.

“Ivanishvili’s citizenship is now restored and will be valid as soon as his French citizenship is annulled,” Saakashvili’s spokeswoman Manana Manjgaladze said today by phone from the capital, Tbilisi.

Ivanishvili announced last year that he would give up his French citizenship. He was stripped of his Georgian citizenship in October 2011.